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Postal Service in the Souris Area
Post Office: Few people are aware that Souris has an interesting, self-appointed public relations man. In 1965, the Guardian branch office manager in Souris passed a letter addressed to the newspaper on to George A. Leard. It was from Edouard R. Souris of Toronto, requesting information about the Town name, similar to his own. George replied, telling him that it had been so named by the French in 174land that there was a Souris East and Souris West, each with a post office at one time. When the Town requested the postal authorities to have the "East" dropped,they refused, because there was already a Souris Post Office in Manitoba. Mr. Souris, a native of Antwerp, Belgium, and now a film editor with CTV in Toronto, has made a hobby of visiting places all over the world with variations of the word Mouse. He has found 60 in all, towns, rivers, valleys, parks and hills in France, Belgium, Madagascar and other places including an island in the Indian Ocean. He visited Souris in the summer of 1966. On his return, he wrote to Canada Post describing the beauties of the Island. He pointed out that the word "east" is not on the Federal Building nor is it used by the residents of the Island. He requested that, as a Centennial Project, Commercial 89 the Town be given a new postal seal. The request was granted and on February 1, 1967, Souris East officially became Souris. Mr. Souris, who corresponds with friends all over the world, had George mail over 300 letters from the Souris Post Office advising them of the change.75 The early history of the mail service on the Island is filled with tales of hardship and heroism. An article in the Guardian of February 4, 1911 tells of a Peter R. Smith, a courier, who made the trip in late December, 1823 from Wood Islands to Caribou with three men in a large row boat. He had to wait a week in Pictou for the mail to come from Halifax. On returning to Caribou, where he left the boat, he found the ice on the Strait forming fast. He was compelled to build an ice boat to enable him to get back to the Island, a distance of 20 miles. He got back to his family January 17,1824. And then "letters remained in the Post Office (Charlottetown) till called for".76 In 1827, Governor Ready strongly recommended the establishment of an inland post: "The postmaster of Charlottetown was directed to open a number of post offices and to establish the necessary courier routes." The system began operations on the 1st of July following.77 Beginning 1827, the first eastern courier route to serve the Souris area, was by way of St. Peters Road, St. Peter's Bay, Fortune and Grand River. The mail was left with James Aitken of Bay Fortune. The first post office called Souris was established in 1830—Alexander Leslie, of Souris West, Postmaster. During these years, the couriers made the trip with the mail twice a week in summer and once a fortnight in winter. The first postmaster appointed for Souris after Responsible Government was granted in 1851 was James McFarlane, who kept a store on the corner north of Centennial Park.78 In 1867, the post offices were divided into Souris East and Souris West. The eastern one was in a building where Irving Oil Ltd. Station is now located. Mrs. Smith was postmistress. At one time there were 450 post offices across the Island. But when rural mail delivery was established, this number was reduced to 125. Marshall Paquet (born 1841)was appointed postmaster of Souris East in 1883. His letter of confirmation came early the following year. The Weekly Examiner and Island Argus of November 9,1883, writes that "the new post office premises on Chapel Avenue opened in the Stone Hotel." It appears that, around 1901 ,the post office was in the Red Rag where Marshall Paquet kept a store. J.J. Hughes was Liberal member of Parliament for this area when the stone post office was built in 1905. That year William, son of Marshall, moved in as new postmaster. He was followed in 1911 by John Garrett. Souris West Post Office was not listed in the Canada Official Postal Guide, 1917, so it must have closed in 1916. It wasn't easy setting up a postal system as the following story from the Prince Edward Island Register of August 11, 1829 shows: "The packet from Pictou on Saturday, instead of bringing Halifax mail, brought back the bags she carried over on Wednesday. The mistake was not known until the bag reached Charlottetown Post Office. The packet was immediately sent back for the right bag. Yesterday, she again returned without it as the Pictou postmaster had served the good folks of Halifax precisely as he had done ourselves by returning them their own bag." Fortunately it was August, not wintertime. }»(> Commercial Photo by Morley S. Acorn. Courtesy Pictures of the Past by Leards. Sour is Post Office and Customs Office